Sunday, January 31, 2010

Today, My Favorite Things is showing some peeks at three new sets, Dance the Night Away, Clearly Sentimental About Emerson, and Twisted Threesome. I chose to work with the new Amanda Baird set, Dance the Night Away. I love the sentiments in this set especially! On the front, I stamped just a portion of one of the sentiments, "Dancing Uplifts the Soul," and then on the inside, I included another sentiment, a quote that reads: "Stifling the urge to dance is bad for your health. It rusts your spirit and your hips." A good friend of mine and I have been debating singing up for some adult dance lessons. I think I'll give this to her along with the schedule at our local dance studio. I hope she doesn't see my blog today!

Here's the finished inside:

And a closer look at the sentiment treatment on the front:

And last, at the risk of magnifying all of my coloring and blending boo-boos, I wanted you to see the sparkle on her dress, which I did by coloring over the entire dress with a clear Spica pen:

Tune in to the MFT blog after 11 am EST, where Kim will post a full list of designers showing MFTeasers today. Enjoy!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

[This is my second post for today. If you're looking for my MFTeaser, scroll down to the previous post. Thanks!]

I'm so happy to have spent some time Thursday and Friday coloring up this lovely Impression Obsession image - Valentine Fountain. Right before I left for CHA, I was in a huge no-coloring mood. Just looking at line art images was enough to give me hives. Kind of scary for a girl who loooooooves to color! Fortunately, my time at CHA included a visit to the Impression Obsession booth. Talk about inspiration!

Isn't that just the sweetest image and sentiment combo? Love it!! Stamper's Dream carries a fantastic selection of Impression Obsession stamps. You can find them all HERE.

Snow has been falling all day here in Northern Virginia, so we've got a pretty good accumulation by now. I was so glad my oldest son got his basketball game in before the county canceled the rest of today's activities. After two back-to-back losses last weekend and the weekend before, it was great to see them pull off an impressive win today. Go Rebels!

This coming Wednesday, February 3, My Favorite Things will be bringing its biggest release to date! Of course, you'll see familiar favorites, such as Who's That Girl and Flopsey. We'll have three brand-new Pure Innocence cuties, as well as a new illustrator you're sure to love, and the third installment in the annual twisted series!

Can't wait? Let's get started! Today is the first of five days of MFTeasers, all leading up to the big day. In the spotlight first are a new Flopsey set and Love Birds, previously part of an MFT kit, but now available on its own.

I've used Love Birds to create a fun, Spring card. I'm watching snow fall outside my window as I type this, and believe me, I'm much rather be hearing birds chirp! I stamped on one of MFT's Cream Perfect Paper Panels - love the warm, buttery color - and colored with Copics and Prismacolor pencils. The designer papers are both from October Afternoon (Report Card and Farm Fresh). Here's a look at the finished inside:

Do you know that with each release, MFT has a guest designer contest? This month Frances and Cindy are hosting, and the challenge is to create something Spring-themed. Give it a whirl and you could be our guest next month! You'll find all the details HERE.

Want more peeks? Each day around 11 am EST, today through Wednesday, tune in to the MFT blog, where Kim will be posting a list of all the MFT designers who will be showing teasers. Enjoy!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Well, I'm back from sunny Southern California. It feels like I've been gone from here forever, and yet the three days at CHA flew by in a blur. How does that work? I'll post some show favorites just as soon as I can get my pictures all together in one place. Good stuff coming!

In the meantime, I have something to share that I put together this afternoon. It sure was good to get back to stamping! Michelle gave me this gorgeous new Hero Arts set, Speckled Ornaments, at CHA, and I couldn't wait to get home and play with it. When I saw Julia's textiles challenge on Splitcoast this morning, I knew this was the perfect set. The images work beautifully on fabric. I used some very inexpensive muslin and stamped with two different colors of VersaMagic ink - Tea Leaves first and then Jumbo Java applied just around the outside. I frayed the edges of the fabric panel and machine-stitched to the paper panel just behind it.

The papers are from my beloved Life Stories Collection I by My Mind's Eye. The "LOVE" sentiment is one of the paper die-cuts included in the Life Stories kit. Embellishments include a Prima flower (love, love, love these!), some woven burlap trim, ivory burlap string, and some Champagne Kaiser pearls. The scallop border was cut with one of the Spellbinders Fancy Scalloped Border Piercabilities, and the card base mats were machine stitched and distressed with Ranger's Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain Distress inks.

Here's a detail shot of the fabric panel. Perhaps I should have ironed it?? :)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

It's Tuesday again, which brings another Skipping Stones Design sketch challenge. This is my last SSD sketch, and I just want to say another big thank you to Heather for having me as the guest sketch designer for January!

I've saved one of my favorite sets for last - Funny about Men. Check out the rest of the sentiment, which I included on the inside of the card:

Wouldn't this be great for a girlfriend going through a break-up? Click HERE to see the rest of this hilarious set! [UPDATE: When you click on that link, you'll see a "no image" graphic. Click on it anyway, and you should see the whole set. Sorry for the extra step, but it's worth it.] It got the big eye-roll from my husband, but a hearty chuckle as well :)

For my card, I stamped the man in Spring Moss, then overstamped the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black. I cut a a ring out of the grey grid patterned paper and then added the hand-cut arrow at the upper right to make the male gender symbol. For the horizontal band on the sketch, I went with a length of twill (I've been using a lot of twill lately) topped with some black buttons.

And here's the sketch my card front is based on:

As always, we'd love to have you play along! Use keyword: SSD09 when you upload to online galleries. Skipping Stones Design stamps are not required.

Monday, January 25, 2010

I guess I have a thing for rolling pins! When I posted this project last week, I was reminded of another rolling pin project that I made back during my Dirty Dozen tenure. The month I made this, our theme was Making a House a Home. Here's what I wrote for Splitcoast:

When my husband and I moved to the country, my dream was to find an old, historic home with lots of character. When we weren't able to find what we were looking for, we opted to build new and try to include some historic elements. We have salvaged barn beams on the ceiling of our breakfast room, a fireplace mantel put together from an old floor joist and two roof corbels, and a pantry door that was salvaged from a more than 200-year-old farmhouse near Virginia's capital. When I started thinking about this month's theme, I thought how fun and how appropriate it would be to repurpose an antique of some sort. After MUCH looking, I settled on using this old dough pin to hold a wall-hanging for my kitchen. I've mounted it on our aged and well-loved pantry door.

The stamps are retired Annie LaPoint herb images from My Favorite Things. Coloring is with Copics. The designer papers are older papers from Stampin' Up - Brocade Backgrounds, maybe? The grayish-looking horizontal panel just behind the three herb images is actually more of a Close to Cocoa color. Check out those bows - they could use some serious help, huh? {giggle} And to think I had a Bow-Easy in my possession that whole time - I 'd forgotten about it!

The hardest part about this project was finding the pin. A couple of antique shop owners told me the older rolling pins go out just as soon as they come in, especially the ones that are made from a single piece of wood. It was torture looking through all those antique shops, I tell ya {wink}!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

It's been far too long since I last participated in one of Verve's Viva La Verve sketch challenges. At the beginning of this year, Amber, our sketch artist/challenge host, changed things up a bit, and I love the new format! (I wish I loved my card as much - more on that later.)

The VLV theme is "At Home With Verve: A Year-Long Home Walk-Through," and each month Amber will be featuring a different room, along with some gorgeous inspiration photos. Foyers and entryways have been the focus this month. Just like last year, there is a grand prize each month - the next month's full stamp release from Verve! That's HUGE! To be eligible for the drawing, all you have to do is complete all of the sketch/inspiration challenges for that month. The deadline for participating this month is January 29. You can find all four January Viva La Verve challenges in the Contests & Challenges area within the Verve Forum on Splitcoast.

As you can see, I pulled my color combo from the inspiration photo - lots of black/white/gray neutrals and little pops of green. My card is a little different from my "usual" (if there is such a thing), and I'm still deliberating whether I like it all that much. The heart floral, the sentiment, and the florals I used to create my background pattern, are all from the new Love's Flower set.

Since I'm already posting one card outside my comfort zone, how about another one? I have to say this next one is a radical departure from almost anything else I've ever done. You'd be hard-pressed to use up even ten minutes to create this - I, on the other hand, spent over an hour on it! Clean-and-simple just doesn't come naturally for me. I puzzled and puzzled, stitched and unstitched, distressed edges and cut again, switched a white felt stem for a black one, switched back ... you get the picture. I think I would like this one if I saw it on someone else's blog, so hopefully someone else will like it on mine :)

One of the things that first attracted me to Verve was the abundance of these small sentiments. I'm so glad Julee continues to put together sets of these little gems, like she's done this month with Celebrating You. The fonts are fun and the sentiments are always a fabulous mixture of traditional and fresh.

Some fabulous new JustRite stamps are now available at Stamper's Dream: Plant A Little Love and My Garden. For a floral-loving gal like myself, these new sets are divine!! I started with a border and center from My Garden, then mixed in a little of Basic Grey's new Origins papers. I'm not normally a big fan of yellow and green, but I kind of like this new BG line. It seemed especially well-suited for a yellow Gerbera daisy, one of my most favorite flowers ever. I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics. The sentiment ring was cut with Spellbinders circle nestabilities. I accented with some twill, a button, rounded corners, a touch of paper piercing, and a scalloped border.

I'm so excited to be heading out bright and early tomorrow morning for CHA. If all goes well, I should arrive mid-day Saturday, just in time to hit the retail show for a few hours. Then I'll stay Sunday and Monday for the trade show. The arrangement is absolutely ideal - I'll only have a few hours to spend my money, and then two whole days to spend Michelle's! ROFL!!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Welcome to the My Favorite Things Lovin' From the Oven blog hop! If you arrived here from Jessie, then you're in the right place. If you've just happened to stop by on your own, you'll find the beginning of the hop with Kim.

Today, we're showcasing this month's VIP kit. What is the VIP kit? It's a chance for you to get one of next month's not-yet-released stamp sets a whole two weeks early. Not only do you get the stamp set, but you also get a bundle of fun coordinating product. This month's kit includes the Lovin' From the Oven stamp set, Bakery Blend Buttons, Bakery Blend Ribbons, Sugar Glass Glitter, and a Sakura Clear Glaze Pen. Plus, receive a FREE Clearly Sentimental about Food stamp set (value $9)! That's some value for your buck! But hurry, the VIP kit is available one day only (today, January 20)!

As you've seen along the hop, in Lovin' from the Oven, our Who's That Girl gets domestic, mixing up all kinds of tasty delights in her cozy kitchen. Oh, the possibilities with this set! I really, really {heart} this one! A while back, I found small, wooden, toy rolling pins along the checkout aisle at Jo-Ann's and picked up a few, thinking surely they'd be fun to incorporate into a future papercrafting project of some sort or another. As soon as I saw MFT's new Lovin' From the Oven set, I knew it was time to use one! I decided to make a wall hanging of the "Recipe For A Happy Life" poem. You've probably seen this, or one of its various iterations, before. If not, here are the words:

Recipe for a Happy Life

Take twelve whole months.Clean them thoroughly of all bitterness,hate, and jealousy.Make them just as fresh and clean as possible.

Now cut each month into twenty-eight, thirty, or thirty-one different parts.But don't make up the whole batch at once.Prepare it one day at a time.

Mix well into each day:one part Faithone part Patienceone part Courageand one part Work

Add to each day one part of Hope, Faithfulness, Generosity, and Kindness.Blend with one part Prayer, one part Meditation,and one Good Deed.Season with a dash of Good Spirit, a sprinkle of Fun, a pinch of Play,and a cupful of Good Humor.

Pour all of this into a vessel of Love.Cook thoroughly over Radiant Joy, garnish with Smiles, and serve with Quietness,Unselfishness, and Cheerfulness.

Here's what the completed project looks like:

And here's a detail shot of the main image, which is done with a combination of paper piecing (dress, apron), Copic markers (skin, bowl), and Prismacolor pencils (background and shadowing):

And last, here's the recipe, which I printed on the computer using the Goudy font:

How about that Basic Grey Nook & Pantry paper collection that I used on this project? PERFECT for this set!! Did you know MFT now carries Basic Grey 6x6 pads? You'll find them in the Brand-Spankin' New category.

That's it for me! To finish up the blog hop, head on over to the sweet and supremely talented Joanne Basile!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Are you ready for another Skipping Stones Design Tuesday Sketch Challenge? Above is my sample, and below is the sketch:

For the past two weeks, I've shown the humorous side of SSD, which I adore, but there is another side, too. Healing Wings, a collection of beautiful butterfly images and wonderful sentiments, is probably my favorite SSD set. The butterflies in this set are the prettiest ever! I paired one of them up with some blue Kaiser Craft Duchess papers and some lace trims for a peaceful sympathy card. The sentiment, which is stamped onto the dp, reads, "Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can not heal." - Thomas Moore. Love that quote!

I stamped the butterfly onto the dp, added some shading and highlighting with Prismacolor pencils, trimmed it out, and coated it with Diamond Glaze. The lace trims all came from my local Jo-Ann's, the ivory satin ribbon is Papertrey, and the natural twine is also from Papertrey.

Hope you can play along in the sketch challenge! Use keyword: SSD08 if you upload to online galleries. Skipping Stones Design stamps are not required.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Oh my goodness, this cutie-pie little monkey from Verve's new Love Monkey set makes me grin every time I look at him! I just love his little expression! Last week, during the release week festivities, Tosh hosted a "Get In Shape" challenge, which was to make a card that isn't a standard square or rectangle. I went with a circle card, which, believe it or not, I've never done before. Such fun, though! This definitely won't be my last.

My little love monkey is stamped in Ranger's Walnut Stain Distress Ink, then colored with Copic markers and trimmed out. The card is designed with Basic Grey's Sugar Rush papers and embellished with a Melissa Frances glittered heart, a button trio, a sentiment flag, and Swarovski crystals around the perimeter. On the inside, I included another sentiment and a pair of stamped hearts, also from the Love Monkey set.

To see tons more cute ideas for this set, visit Verve's Love Monkey gallery. I can hardly stand seeing that much cuteness all in one place!

Let me address the top fold, since someone might be curious. I started with a piece of folded ivory card stock, which I die-cut with one of Spellbinders' scalloped circle dies. I made sure the fold was just inside the die on two of the scallops, so that I didn't entirely cut off the fold. So far, so good, however, from the outside, I didn't really want those two partially folded scallops to show, so here's what I did to hide them. On the outside, I adhered a same-size green scalloped circle to the card front. The full scallops at the top hide the two folded ones underneath. I could have stopped there, but I also took the whole card and adhered it to a larger ivory scalloped circle. When the card is closed you see a double scalloped border - green and white. Does that make sense? Let me know if more pictures would be helpful!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

I love the sweet, romantic sentiments in JustRite's Loving Thoughts set. Here, I've paired one of them with some equally romantic 7Gypsies Victoria designer paper. The fronts of most these papers are wonderful collage patterns, and the backs are coordinating solid colors with the teeny dotted pattern (the pinkish Label 4 shape and the green circle). The gorgeous lace trim along the bottom is from the Nature's Storybook/Postcards from Paris Trim Card by Webster's Pages. Can't wait to put all the other luscious trims to good use!

I'm wiped out tonight and short on chit-chat. Thanks so much for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Today is the last day of new release peeks over on the Verve blog. Stop by for a chance to win Love's Flower, a gorgeous mix of fantastic sentiments and elegant florals. I've used one of the quotes and a few of the flowers for today's card. The layout is based on Teresa's Release Week Sketch Challenge, one of five release week challenges. You still have time to play along (the deadline is today at 6 pm EST)! Complete all five challenges and you'll be entered into a drawing to win the entire release. Definitely worth playing for!

We warmly invite you to stop by the Verve Forum tonight at 9 pm EST for our Release Party. Hope to see you then! And one last thing ... today is the last day to download the FREE Regal Heart Digi Set. Click the link to get to the download page.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

I've been waiting sooooo patiently for my turn to peek one of the new Verve sets that will be releasing tomorrow night. Each Verve release is just that much more fun than the last, and I've felt like a kid at the playground all week! The set that the Verve Divas are previewing today is called Heart's Desire, a set filled with a fabulous variety of Valentine/Love images and sentiments. You can read more about my project, as well as see some of the other Divas' creations, over on the Verve blog today. Just like with previous releases, leaving comments on the Verve blog gets you entered into a random drawing for the set or sets previewed that day.

For more Verve giveaways, be sure to enter into any or all of the Release Week Challenges. You'll find links to all five challenges in the January '10 Release Week Challenges MASTER Thread. Good luck!! One of my favorite parts about each release is the massive list of winners. Let's see if we can get YOUR name on this month's list :)

And remember to swing by the Verve Forum on Splitcoast tomorrow anytime between 8:00 and 10:00 pm for our Release Party. Chat with other Verve fans, feast your eyes on gorgeous samples, and join in the excitement as each new set is unveiled in full. Hope to see you there!

Be sure to head over to the Skipping Stones Design site for lots more sketch inspiration from the talented SSD Design Team, aka Stamp Tramps. We'd love to have you play along, too!

I just love the sassy humor in so many of the SSD sets. The set I've used today is Donut Birthday. Among the funny sentiments is the one I've used here: "Birthdays are like donuts ... sometimes it is best not to recall how many you've had." I am SO at that age now!

I stamped the donut image twice, colored with Copics, trimmed them out, and added a little glitter using a glue pen and ultrafine clear glitter. The card layers are all from Basic Grey's Nook & Pantry collection. The sentiment carries over to the inside, where I did some minimal decorating to tie it in with the outside:

Heather at Skipping Stones Design is giving away FREE donuts. This Donut Birthday set can be yours FREE with the purchase of three regular priced stamp sets. The offer is good through Saturday. Here's the full set:

In other news, did you know Verve is gearing up for its next big release this Friday, January 15? Peeks have begun over on the Verve blog. As is Verve custom, we're also having five release week challenges, each with a chance for you to win some of the Vervalicious new sets. You'll find all the challenges posted in the Verve Forum on Splitcoast. Hope you can play!